View from hotel window - Butte, Montana, 1956

In the mid-1950s, during his cross-country journey to capture the soul of America, Robert Frank created this evocative image, View from a Hotel Window, Butte, Montana. The photograph, part of his seminal series The Americans, epitomizes Frank’s ability to find profound narratives in the everyday. The print is a stark depiction of an industrial American landscape viewed through the isolation of a window in the historic Hotel Finlen. It’s a testament to Frank’s unfiltered vision of mid-20th century America.

This lot on offer is an early, 1960s print, of the image, coming originally from the collection of American photographer and author, Shirley Carter Burden (1908-1989). It is one four Robert Frank images in this sale that was originally published in The Americans. The Americans was originally published in 1958 and has since become a landmark in the history of photography. Frank’s work on this project was supported by the Guggenheim Fellowship, which allowed him to travel across the United States, documenting its people and places with a fresh and unflinching perspective.